ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, SSB - 2023
Call: K0EU
Operator(s): K0EU
Station: K0EU
Class: Single Op HP
QTH: CO
Operating Time (hrs): 24
OpMode: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs
------------
160:
80: 55
40: 480
20: 810
15: 283
10: 68
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Total: 1696 Sections = 85 Total Score = 288,320
Club: Grand Mesa Contesters of Colorado
Comments:
Many thanks to all of the casual contesters that got on for this one, especially
the ones that allowed me to talk them through their first SS exchange. Kudo's
also to the coaches who were in the background training what sounded like some
very young hams in the ways of contesting. We need a lot more of that.
Nice to work quite a few GMCC club members including K0UK, N0POH, WY7SS, KI6QDH
(10M ground wave to WY!), N7MZW, W0PSY, K0FX, and N7WY.
Multipliers were plentiful. Two each in PR and TER. At least three from all
others. Super turnout from Canada!
Based on some RBN tests I did a half hour before the contest, it looked like I
might do well starting on 10M. Big mistake. Many unanswered CQ's so I quickly
moved to 15M. Ended up with only 120 Q's in the first hour, compared to my
target of 150 (based on my best year score from 2015). Switched to 20M at around
2215 and this allowed me to almost hit my target of 150 Q's (got 147). Through
seven hours, I was 100 Q's down from my target. Things weren't looking good but
I hadn't worked anyone else with a higher QSO number. Maybe everyone else was
finding it hard to generate QSO's.
>From hour 8 and beyond, rate was consistently lower throughout the rest of the
contest. There was no rate bump mid morning on Sunday, and definitely no uptick
in the last few hours. I actually made a graph of the hourly rate as a
percentage of the 2015 hourly rate. There were two hours at 100 percent (i.e.
same rate both years). All other values were less than 100 percent (rate worse
this year than in 2015). After the first seven hours, the values fluctuate
between 40 and 80 percent, with the average being 72 percent. My conclusion is
that participation must have been down substantially this year because I didn't
feel like propagation was all that bad.
Ten meters never provided much in the way of rate, but it wasn't from lack of
trying. George and Jeff at K5TR made almost 300 more 10 meter QSO's than I did.
ND7K had over 400 more Q's on 10M than me, and quite a few more on 15M. Amazing
how different propagation can be. If you haven't read George's comments, you
should. Very enlightening to see how committed he is to contesting and keeping
it interesting. Congrats to George, Jeff, and Tim on great scores.
73, Randy K0EU ("Ken" in NA contests)
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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